Specialty Care: Cardiology

What is Cardiology?

Cardiology is the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the heart and blood vessels. It is a medical specialty which is involved in the care of all conditions associated with the heart and vascular disease, as well as their prevention through lifestyle changes and medications.

There are several sub-specialties within cardiology:

Noninvasive cardiology focuses on the imaging of the heart at rest or during exercise in order to detect and diagnose heart and vascular conditions. Noninvasive tests include EKGs, echocardiograms, nuclear cardiology, stress tests, MRI of the heart or CT scans of the heart and vascular systems.

Invasive/Interventional cardiology focuses on diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery and heart valve disease using catheters – or tubes – that are inserted into the patient’s body. These procedures include cardiac catheterizations, percutaneous coronary intervention with stent placement, as well as minimally invasive valve replacements.

Electrophysiology focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm conditions using the insertion of pacemakers, defibrillators, and ablation treatments.